Still Running Off at the Keyboard

MAHONY'S EXPENSIVE REPUTATION

A reader sent in a link to this story from the L A Times:

So, on the eve of being called to testify in the first L.A. clergy abuse trial, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony settled with 508 claimants for a staggering $660 million, the largest such settlement in the entire country.

Was anyone surprised?

If so, God help you.

All along, the Los Angeles Archdiocese — which was once compared to La Cosa Nostra by the head of a Catholic review board — had one primary objective.

The truth? Not a chance.

Justice? Forget about it.

The top priority?

Keep Mahony off the stand.

Under oath, he would have been forced to explain exactly what he knew about the scandal and what he did, or didn't do, in response.

Apparently, that's not something the cardinal wants anyone ever to know.

Kind of scary, isn't it?

Read the rest...

MARY K. HAYDEN INVOKES THE ANGELS

She lives in Ireland, and she tells us "The Angels are always pleased to help us at any time no matter how often we call upon them. Once our request is in Divine Order and for the Higher Good of all concerned we will receive the Angels help. Trust in the Angels. You can call on a particular Angel or on Angels in general, ask for the Angels assistance and trust in the outcome. Give gratitude to the Angels at this time and again when your request has been granted."

Hayden makes no secret of the fact that she serves as a medium on her Angel Energy Healing Welcome page.

I have had a particular devotion to St. Michael for years, so I might be willing to agree with her if she didn't include Archangel Zadkiel on her website; but her particular invocation of angels is not quite what a Catholic has in mind. Here she spells it out:

Angel Energy Healing is a combination of healing with the Angels, manifesting, communing with one's own Guardian Angels, communing with friends or family who have passed on, invoking the Angels to assist in the cutting of ties to people, places or things, and receiving messages from the Angels that help the healing process. It also includes asking specific questions of the Angels and receiving answers. We all have the ability to work with and talk to the Angels....

The Angel Energy Healing Practitioner three day Workshop Programme incorporates Mary K's considerable experience as a teacher and practitioner in all the areas listed. Angel Energy Healing is an integration of Spiritual Healing and working with the Angels, Angel Healing and Life Force Energy Healing. This composite approach was developed by Mary K. Hayden based on her experience as a Reiki & Seichem Master & Teacher. Integrated Energy Therapy Master Instructor and certified Angel Therapy Practitioner and Medium....

Attunements are a key feature of the programme and differentiate this program from other Angel Workshops. Three attunements are given. The First Attunement enhances Psychis ability. The second attunement enhances healing. The third attunement connects us with St. Michael the Archangel.

Hayden is a Reiki practitioner. Her welcome page informs the web surfer:

Visitors to Mary K Hayden's Reiki Ireland web site can learn about Reiki and Seichem and the many benefits that can be derived from Reiki and Seichem treatments and from attunements into Reiki, for either personal or professional reasons. It includes details of the various Reiki Ireland Workshops and on-going Support

The Reiki Ireland workshops include Reiki Levels I, II & III-Mastership and Seichem Levels I, II & III-Mastership. The workshop pages also list Angels Ireland workshops including Mary K Hayden's 3-Day Angel Energy Healing Practitioner and her 2-Day Mediumship and Psychic Development workshops.

Contacting the spirit world for healing is addressed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church #2117:

All practices of magic or sorcery, by which one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one's service and have a supernatural power over others - even if this were for the sake of restoring their health - are gravely contrary to the virtue of religion.

All of this would be of little interest if it weren't for the fact that Catholic nuns have become Reiki practitioners. Here is just one example.

Even more surprising is Reiki Energy Therapist Rev. Mr. Al Caponigro, Roman Catholic Deacon, spiritual director, located in Arizona. He advertises his Reiki energy treatments, Reiki training classes and attunements on the Healing Arts Network website. Imagine--this man assists at Mass on Sunday and may provide a Reiki attunement on Monday.

It boggles the mind!

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

DAN, A TYPE OF ANTICHRIST

From the Jewish Encyclopedia:

But Dan became the very type of evil-doing. He was placed to the north (Num. ii. 25), this being the region of darkness and evil (Jer. i. 14), because of his idolatry which wrapped the world in darkness (Num. R. ii.). Still further goes a tradition which identifies the serpent and the lion (Gen. xlix. 17 and Deut. xxxiii. 22) with Belial (see the literature in Bousset's "Antichrist," 1895, pp. 87, 113). Irenæus ("Adversus Hæreses," v. 302), Hippolytus ("De Christo et Antichristo," pp. 14, 15), and other Church fathers have a tradition, which can not but be of Jewish origin, that the Antichrist comes from the tribe of Dan, and base it upon Jer. viii. 16: "The snorting of his [the enemy's] horses was heard from Dan"—a verse referred also in Gen. R. xliii. to Dan's idolatry. Irenæus remarks that Dan is, in view of this tradition, not in the Apocalypse (Rev. vii. 5-7) among the 144,000 saved ones of the twelve tribes. Nor is the omission of Dan in I Chron. iv. et seq. unintentional. Bousset, who has a special chapter devoted to the Dan Antichrist legend (l.c. pp. 112-115), believes that the connection of Dan with Belial in Test. Patr., Dan, 5 points to the same tradition. This seems to find corroboration in Targ. Yer. to Deut. xxxiv. 3, where the war against Ahriman ()and Gog or Magog in the vision of Moses seems to refer to Dan, 1 (compare Sifre, l.c. to ; see also Dan, in Ten Tribes, The Lost.) K.

OH REALLY ?

At the Washington Post website, retired Episcopal priest James Anderson offers some comments about Benedict's recent release:

Last weekend I was involved in two conversations – one brief, one extended – touching the reassertion by Pope Benedict XVI of the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church as the one true church possessing “the fullness of the means of salvation.”

The brief conversation was the recounting to me of an exchange between a Roman Catholic priest from the Vatican and an American nun in which the two were reported to have agreed that the Pope might best be described as an “ass.”

The second extended conversation was with a Buddhist friend who shared her decision to become a Roman Catholic. She was staying with us for the weekend and she wanted us to know that she had completed a year long period of study, that she was now a full fledged communicant in the Catholic Church and she would be going to Mass Sunday morning. In our lengthy discussion of the motivations for this fairly momentous change in her life, it was inevitable that Pope Benedict’s recent pronouncement became a topic to be explored. Our friend and recent convert said she saw no reason to pay attention to what the Pope had to say and that she thought most people did not like him. She elaborated by describing the attempt of her parish priest to disagree with the Pope, while also backpedaling, making excuses for the Pope’s pronouncement.

SCANDAL HAS CAUSED CHANGE IN VIEWPOINT

From L.A. Times:

The crisis has also contributed to a change in the way some Catholics perceive priests, who are traditionally viewed as God's representatives on Earth.

This viewpoint is shifting, according to Dean R. Hoge of the Catholic University of America. He is an expert on the sociology of religion and co-author of a new book, "American Catholics Today."

"Catholics distinguish between Jesus Christ and the institutional church," Hoge said. "People are too smart to believe that priests are representatives of God. These are men."

He characterized today's young Catholics as well-educated, culturally intelligent and "wide-awake" people. Two students at Loyola Marymount University in Westchester embody that view.

"Personally, I think there needs to be a line between God and the church," said graduate student Mike Santa Maria, 23. "There is a perfect God, but not a perfect church. If the church truly reflects its people, it must reflect its brokenness as much as its talents and treasures."

Senior Roxanne Gutierrez, 21, believes that all Catholics, not just priests, may be called to be representatives of God.

The crisis in the church, Hoge said, concerns human beings, not God.

"It's not Jesus Christ in crisis," he said. "It's not the Bible in crisis. It's the institution and decision-making that's in crisis. And, we have to repair the damage."

YOU'RE NOT SERIOUS, FATHER...!

Sometimes I get the impression that a Vaticanista is not playing with a full deck. This is one of those times. From Matt Abbott's column:

It can be difficult nowadays to ascertain whether certain individuals are joking or serious about certain matters.

Seriously.

Father Reginald Foster is one such individual. In Jan. 2007, Father Foster, the Papal Latinist for the last 38 years, told the London Telegraph that Pope Benedict XVI "is not going to [reintroduce the Tridentine Mass]."

Oops.

He also said the Tridentine Mass "is a useless [M]ass and the whole mentality is stupid. The idea of it is that things were better in the old days. It makes the Vatican look medieval."

But he does love teaching Latin, according to the story.

Oh, and Father Foster apparently has celebrated Mass in the nude. Or perhaps he's just "joking."

Read more...

According to the column, this is the priest who translated John Paul II's writings into Latin, and has taught at the Greg.

EXORCISTS OBJECT TO HARRY POTTER

Five hundred Catholic priests and lay people at the annual exorcism conference in Mexico City discussed the negative influence of magic and ways to fight demonic possession according to PR-inside.com.

The Rev. Francisco Bamonte, an Italian exorcism expert and author of «Diabolical Possessions and Exorcisms,» said the Harry Potter books and films are «a clear attempt to induce adolescents to an esoteric mentality and magic,» the Mexican daily newspaper Milenio reported.

Hat tip to Spirit Daily.

INTERVIEW WITH AN EXORCIST

linked at Spirit Daily. Some excerpts:

Are there objective criteria that can be used to determine if a person has been possessed by a demon?

The new ordinance on exorcism summarises the criteria for the event of possession very well. The clearest for me as a priest is the deep aversion to holy objects such as the cross, the rosary or the sign of the cross. Also an aversion to the word God – when it is spoken, such people get very nervous. Less significant indications are the supernatural capabilities that these people can suddenly develop. They can speak foreign languages that they've never learned. They can levitate; they can float, they can overcome gravity. Sometimes they become inexplicably strong and violent. But it's not that easy to diagnose cases of possession. I usually suggest that people see a neurologist or a psychiatrist before I get involved in their case. If I am advised by these experts that they can't help, then I can begin a spiritual treatment. As a rule, I would say that of ten people who request an exorcism, one is truly possessed.

Are there reasons for possession?

We don't know them. Nor can we say why one person gets cancer and another doesn't. We have no explanation for that either. We only know that God's power and love is greater when it comes to our physical and spiritual illnesses. That's how possession has to be seen.

According to Father Barrajon demons do not want to reveal their name.

Why doesn't he want to reveal his name?

The name discloses his being. Franz Rosenzweig once said the name is not "sound and smoke", as Goethe says, but "word and fire". The name Jesus means "God saves". Isaac, Jacob, all these names have a particular meaning. And it always discloses the person's being. When I say my name, I'm also saying: I am here. No Demon ever wants to say its name.

And once it's said it?

At the end, the priest says to the demon, "Go away! Disappear!" The demon usually answers, "No, I don't want to." It rebels and revolts. Sometimes it says "You have no power over me. You are nothing to me." But after a while, its resistance weakens. This usually happens after the invocation of the Holy Mother, she's very important for that. No demon ever dares to insult her during an exorcism. Never.

Does he have more respect for Mary than for God himself?

Apparently. Otherwise no holds are barred, and everyone is insulted: the priests, everyone present, the bishops, the Pope, even Jesus Christ. But never the Virgin Mary. It's an enigma.

DIVISION IN THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH

The recently signed Canonical Communion between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia has sparked major disagreement within the denomination. The Wall Street Journal reports:

When Communism crumbled, efforts to heal the rift began, culminating this year in May in a Moscow ceremony attended by President Vladimir Putin. There, the two sides signed the Act of Canonical Communion, joining members of the Church Abroad with more than 140 million Russian Orthodox world-wide.

But dissidents believe the Moscow church hasn't adequately repented for its sins and is still too close to the Kremlin. About 100 of the 340 Church Abroad clergy around the world have broken away in the past four years, particularly in recent months. At least 10 of the Church Abroad's estimated 145 U.S. parishes have asked other Russian or Greek Orthodox bishops to lead them instead, while many parishioners have joined Greek, Serbian or Russian Orthodox churches unaffiliated with the Church Abroad.

Several Church Abroad priests who opposed the canonical union have been ordered out of rectories and stripped of their parish posts. Seven clerics quit the Protection of the Mother of God Church in Rochester, N.Y., splintering the worshipers. In some locales, family members are attending separate churches.

Some members believe that Putin will use the priests sent to America from Russia as spys:

Some dissident priests fear for American security, saying Mr. Putin will use the union to send over government agents disguised in cassocks. The Rev. Victor Dobroff of New York City, who broke with the church, says that "in a very short time," Russia's current FSB security agency will have hundreds of "new spy nests all over the world, absolutely untouchable, working under the cover of the church."

Read more...

Hat tip to NOR.

NO TRIDENTINE AFTER ALL

From a Spirit Daily link:

The Vatican says that Pope Benedict concelebrates his daily morning Mass in Italian using the current edition of the Roman Missal, denying claims that he is using the Tridentine rite.

Claims that the pope celebrates his private Mass using the Tridentine rite are incorrect, Vatican spokesman Jesuit Fr Federico Lombardi said, according to Catholic News Service.

The Tridentine Mass is the Latin-language liturgy that predates the Second Vatican Council; it was last revised in the 1962 edition of the Roman Missal.

Less than 10 days after Pope Benedict issued his letter on 7 July providing greater opportunity for the celebration of the Tridentine Mass, news reports claimed Pope Benedict already had been celebrating the old rite privately.

"The confusion probably was caused by our footage of the pope celebrating facing the altar, which is due to the fact that the altar is against the wall" in the private chapel of the Apostolic Palace, Fr Lombardi said.

Read the rest...

BISHOP FORBIDS NAJU

SEOUL (UCAN) -- A Korean bishop has warned Catholics not to join activities organized by devotees of a controversial Marian shrine, and he urged priests to educate parishioners on the matter.

Bishop Boniface Choi Ki-san of Incheon on June 29 released a pastoral directive forbidding Catholics from joining Naju shrine devotees, who held a Mass in his diocesan territory, just west of Seoul. The Church in 2005 rejected the alleged miracles associated with the shrine, which began more than two decades ago in Naju, 285 kilometers south of the capital.

The bishop also released a 14-page letter titled "Theological and Pastoral Reflection and Directive Related to Julia Youn of Naju." In it he urges priests to use homilies to educate parishioners on the matter as well as on proper Marian devotion.

Despite earlier warnings, Bishop Choi said in his pastoral directive, "some 700 followers of Julia Youn Hong-sun of Naju joined a liturgical event in Bucheon celebrated by a Korean priest from Atlanta diocese, in the United States."

Read the rest...

Hat tip to Spirit Daily.

E. MICHAEL JONES

NOR links a story at the Southern Poverty Law Center about the suspension of John Sharpe, Jr., and asks: "Is E. Michael Jones an Extremist 'Anti-Semite'?". It would be interesting to read Dale Vree's answer to that question! I wonder if he's written it yet?

GET YOUR HARRY POTTER SUPPLIES

at at Mystic Convergence. Who says HP can't inspire the Wiccans?

WICCA AND SEX

It's only an abstract of an article that you have to pay for to read. Nevertheless, it's got some interesting comments just in the abstract alone. Title: "Inappropriate Sexuality? Sex Magic, S/M and Wicca (or ‘Whipping Harry Potter’s Arse!’)".

DON'T BE NEGATIVE

Offering a variety of the Law of Attraction clothed in religious jargon, Grant Swank at The Conservative Voice offers a viewpoint on church controversy that looks like a page taken out of the Christian variety of the Appreciative Inquiry handbook. Imagine what would happen in a Catholic church where this attitude were officially taken toward those who raise concerns. When you've done so, you will have an idea of what Vibrant Parish Life is attempting to do in the parishes of the Cleveland Diocese.

The concept here in Cleveland hasn't been couched in terms of "Satan vs. us" that is the basis of this article, but the "don't be negative" sentiment is the same and has been made obvious to those of us who looked into Vibrant Parish Life. Talk about marginalizing those who raise an alarm, the letter in the article has the potential for real hatred to be fostered.

JUDAISM IS NOT MONOLITHIC - THE DIVIDE IN ORTHODOXY

According to a Jerusalem Post article, Orthodox Rabbi David Berger, a former Brooklyn College professor who will be assuming a position at Yeshiva University in the Fall, lectured at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Hebrew University on the topic of "Defining Heresy: The Shifting Boundaries of Religion."

Berger spoke of the division within Jewish Orthodoxy between the Chabad Lubivitchers and the rest of Orthodoxy, something that is anything but obvious to us goyim. According to the article:

Here's the rub: The Lubavitchers' beliefs are a problem for Berger precisely because he's a true believer himself. He takes to heart the Thirteen Principles of Faith, in which Maimonides (1135-1204) summarized Jewish dogma. Were Chabad not viewed by so many as "Orthodox," Berger would be less anxious about their inroads into Jewish life; the Lubavitchers would be just another schismatic group. The problem is that Chabad looks Orthodox, walks Orthodox, quacks Orthodox.

Well yes, it does. To me, anyway. And some of what the Lubivitchers promote sounds omnious to this Catholic--like the Noahide Laws and the Chabad interpretation of Idolatry to include us Catholics among the idolators worthy of beheading.

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, portions of whose books I have been blogging periodically, is a Chabad Lubivitcher and the President of the newly formed Sanhedrin which will enforce those Noahide Laws. Hence my fascination with Rabbi Berger's opinion. From the article here is some of that opinion:

I asked Berger why the Chabad issue hardly makes any waves in the Orthodox world. His answer was that the Orthodox delude themselves into thinking that only a minority of Chabadniks are messianic - when a majority is. To the extent that there is a minority in Chabad, it is the faction that worships the Rebbe as an outright deity.

"The Orthodox are also insensitive to the key point that recognizing messianists as Orthodox rabbis legitimates this belief within Orthodoxy irrespective of the number of believers," he said.

Faced by Chabad's extraordinary theological assault from within, Orthodox leaders pursue the path of least resistance. Their approach is to avoid acrimonious confrontation (I suppose they save that for gays, Russians who want to convert, the secular, and the other major streams of Judaism).

Maybe, Berger surmised, the Orthodox tell themselves: This Rebbe-messiah business is a passing fad. Anyway, each Orthodox sect looks after its own interests, and there is no advantage in taking on Chabad. Conversely, the Orthodox world is interdependent. To openly challenge Chabad across the globe would be an undertaking of immense proportions and debilitating to Orthodox interests.

Chabad believes in reincarnation. Chabad uses the Kabbalah. Chabad is the ultra-orthodox Judaism. Chabad speaks for Orthodox Judaism because they have a significant presence and identity. They can be most easily heard as spokespersons for Orthodoxy.

Rabbi Berger is trying to sound an alarm, but he is faced with opposition. According to the article:

Not surprisingly, there are other modern Orthodox scholars who disagree with Berger on the importance of Maimonides's Thirteen Principles. Marc Shapiro, a Judaic Studies professor at the University of Scranton, argues in The Limits of Orthodox Theology that Maimonides's principles never enjoyed universal acceptance in the rabbinic world - the implication being that even traditionalists can't agree on a clear expression of dogma.

University of Haifa professor Menachem Kellner in Must a Jew Believe Anything? goes further in arguing that not only doesn't Judaism have a dogma; we shouldn't go down that road because it could create a future of mutually exclusive "Judaisms."

It seems to me that Judaism is a long way down that road already, since, unlike Catholicism, no one speaks for Judaism, and thus everyone who thinks he has a voice speaks for the Jewish faith.

Chabad anticipates a messiah. Scripture tells us the antichrist will come from the tribe of Dan. That's quite an open window for speculation.

PROBLEMS ON THE RIGHT

NOR links Avewatch.org which carries the story of gay and child porn on the computer of a priest associated with Ave Maria Law School, and the priest's attempt to delete the evidence.

BENEDICT USES THE TRIDENTINE

NOR has linked this story at Catholic World News:

Vatican, Jul. 16, 2007 (CWNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news), who recently issued a motu proprio allowing all Catholic priests to celebrate the old Latin Mass, uses the older ritual himself for his private Mass, CWN has learned.

Informed sources at the Vatican have confirmed reports that the Holy Father regularly celebrates Mass using the 1962 Roman Missal.

I wonder if he will start to use the Tridentine for his public Masses now?

POPE SHENOUDA III REACTS

Pope Benedict XVI’s pride in the primacy of Catholicism is making him enemies, said the head of Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox church.

“The man (Pope Benedict) makes enemies every time,” said Pope Shenouda III, leader of the 10 million Coptic Christians in Egypt, according to the state-run daily Al-Ahram.

“In his first statements a few months back, he lost all the Muslims,” he said Saturday, referring to the Pope’s speech in Germany last year when he associated Islam with violence. “And now this time, he lost a lot of the Christian denominations because he has begun to err against Christians themselves.”

Shenouda was reacting to the pope’s approval of a document last Tuesday that reasserted the Vatican’s position on the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church as the “one true church,” while all non-Catholic churches are simply “ecclesial communities.”

“Other Christian communities are either defective or not true churches and Catholicism provides the only true path to salvation,” the pope was quoted as saying.

The Coptic head said the statement was the result of Catholic pride, as though “they were the only Christians in the world,” according to Reuters.

Read the rest...

There is an unwritten message in this and other similar reactions. Would a Catholic be upset because Pope Shenouda claimed the Coptic Orthodox Church was the one true Church? Isn't that, after all, what we would expect Pope Shenouda to believe? If he didn't believe that, wouldn't we think he should join the church that he believed was the one true church? But he is upset because the Catholics claim they have the truth. I would suggest that what is implied by that statement is his fear that the Catholic Church is actually right in this proclamation. Otherwise why would he care?

THAT'S BILLION...NOT WITH AN "M", WITH A "B"

The cost of clergy sex abuse for America's Roman Catholic Church has hit a breathtaking new benchmark: The 660 (m) million-dollar settlement approved Monday in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has pushed the price beyond two (b) billion dollars nationwide.

Imagine how many starving Africans could have been fed.

Imagine how many unwanted babies could have been rescued.

Imagine how many orphans could have gone to college.

Two billion. That is the cost of John Paul II's negligence.

THE AFTEREFFECTS OF SUNDAY MASS

I'm having a harder time with it this week than in the past. I was angry all day Sunday and snapped at my husband a lot. Last night, after sleeping a couple of hours, I woke up from a nightmare in which the Mass was being perverted once again. It was hours before I could get back to sleep.

ROMAN CATHOLIC FAITHFUL

Today's mail brought the saddest letter from Stephen Brady. He has given up on the Church and plans to turn to a Traditional chapel in the future.

Despite the warnings from these three priests [Fr. John Hardon, S.J.; Fr. Alfred Kunz; and Fr. Malachi Martin], RCF set out to expose the corruption with the hope that some member of the hierarchy would help lead us out of these dark times. I realize now that our efforts were in vain. Despite these many setbacks, and even though we will be following a new direction we will continue to expose the corruption because - even if we are ultimately unsuccessful - our actions may at least enlighten more lay Catholics to become aware of how their spiritual and financial support of these men only enables them to further harm the Church and Her faithful. We cannot allow these bishops to get a pass from RCF.

One of the disturbing aspects of my work has been to learn that most "Catholics," because of corrupt bishops and clergy, have no sense of sin, of scandal, or of the Sacred. They speak of abortion and homosexual activity as though it harmed no one.

For these reasons and others I have come to the conclusion that I can no longer, in good conscience, recommend to Catholics in distress that they in any way return to their Novus Ordo parishes with essentially band-aid solutions to what is a much deeper problem. In short, I now believe that the so-called Traditionalist Catholics are right: the present post-Conciliar ecclesial establishment has, in large part, lost the Catholic Faith. That being said, where do we turn?

Fortunately, that Faith is now being valiantly preserved in numerous Traditional chapels, Oratories and Mass centers throughout the world. As Christ promised, the Gates of Hell would never prevail against the Church even though the light of faith may be dimmed in many (or even most) places, as occurred in the Arian heresy during the fourth century. While my family still attends a diocesan parish to fulfill our Sunday obligation, we are in search of a new home.

I now realize that sending Catholics back to their parish to stop a clown Mass or to protest the horrible treatment of Our Lord's Body and Blood or to ask for a correction of some other liturgical abuse is a waste of time. No, it is more than that - it is bad advice....

Therefore, for reasons of doctrinal orthodoxy, liturgical integrity and to lead a moral life, we urge all Catholics to abandon the corrupt, destructive, heterodox and limp-wristed Novus Ordo establishment and to seek out the Catholic Faith in Traditional Mass centers.

He lists as places to which we could turn the SSPX, Independent Traditional Mass Centers, and "Approved" Indult Masses, but issues a caution:

It is unfortunately the case that, in order to obtain "official" permission to celebrate the Traditional Mass, many priests are pressured to compromise in their homilies concerning the contemporary errors infesting the Church. ..Discretion must be used in attending such Masses, especially when the Holy Communion distributed at Masses includes Hosts from a prior Novus Ordo Mass which may or may not have been a valid Mass, depending upon the additional tampering with the liturgy that might have been committed by the "presider" at that Mass.

It's bad for me when I think it. It's bad for the Church when someone with the presence and knowledge of Stephen Brady says it openly in a letter mailed to all of his donors. We have come to the point that the very heart of the Church, the Body and Blood of Christ, is no longer reliable. The Church can't sink any lower than this.

Viva Cristo Rey!

LIFE AFTER ROWLING

The Cleveland Plain Dealer offers a list of authors to turn to when you've closed the book on the last Harry Potter. Included on the list are Phillip Pullman, Jonathan Shroud, Eoin Colfer, and Jim Butcher.

Can't let the kiddies forget the lessons Harry has taught them, can we?

The list also includes J.R.R. Tolkien, an author who doesn't belong there.

PATROLLING THE BORDERS

Minutemen border group now has begun targeting Catholics

The people who call themselves the Minutemen claim to be a cross between a law enforcement auxiliary and a giant neighborhood watch program that patrols the border to stop illegal immigration.

If so, there goes the neighborhood.

Members of the San Diego unit recently picketed a suburban church northeast of San Diego and held up an effigy of a priest depicted as the devil. According to one Catholic civil rights organization, the Minutemen used bullhorns to hurl invective at parishioners and taunted Hispanic children who were on their way to make their First Communion, telling them their parents were in the country illegally. Things got really crass when some of the border-watchers made references to the Catholic Church's sex-abuse scandal.

A posting on the group's Web site questioned why, "with all the pediphelia (sic) problems going on in the church," the clergy would promote a situation where you "have 50 loitering men watching little children playing on the playground each morning."

What got the Minutemen's sheets in a twist? The Rev. Edward "Bud" Kaicher, pastor of the parish, tried to help workers find employment by allowing the church to serve as a day laborer pickup site. This put Kaicher and the Catholic Church in the cross hairs of the civilian patrol movement, elements of which have morphed from being anti-illegal immigrant to anti-immigrant and just plain anti-Hispanic. And now, anti-Catholic?

Continue reading...

HEH - QUOTABLE

Ecumenists lament that the clock has been turned back and that the Roman Church must not be serious about its prior overtures toward mutual acceptance by Christian bodies. Some suggest darkly that the Pope cannot pray in unison with Jesus "that they all may be one." Apparently the ecumenicists forget who broke up the party to begin with.

Those are the words of an Episcopalian, The Rev. Canon J. Gary L'Hommedieu, Canon for Pastoral Care at the Cathedral Church of St. Luke, Orlando, Florida, and a regular columnist for VirtueOnline.

THE LOS ANGELES SETTLEMENT

Matt Abbott has posted some comments he took from "Ave Maria" at the Angelqueen.org forum that could be applied to lots of dioceses. I won't resist quoting them here:

'We knew this was coming; it was only a matter of time. In the secular world the one in charge of being a part of such an incredible scandal and fiasco would be dismissed immediately in shame. And in the Church?

'It has been a long time since I read the Screwtape Letters, but I know that is a plan of the devil to gain souls. 'What can be done to destroy the Church in southern California?' might the devil have asked along that line of thinking. Hmm. Let's refuse to teach the truths of the faith. Let's take the focus off Christ and put it on man. Let's all be concerned for the things of this world only. Let's give such concern good and innocuous names. Let's allow innocents to be destroyed and cover it up so that souls will be lost, and then all this sits, simmers, festers and blows up so the most possible souls can be scandalized. Let's persecute and get rid of orthodox clergy and religious. Let's wreck the churches and marginalize those who remain faithful. Hmm. Sounds like a plan.'

LOS ANGELES ABUSE

Settlements totalling $720,000,000. And if that isn't staggering enough there were 546 victims. Of homosexuality.

Lord God almighty!

Just what silence did this pot of gold purchase?

First piece of real estate that should be sold is the cathedral monstrosity and its snake in the garden. Second should be the bishop's residence.

Ray Boucher is gonna be busy for the next year counting his percentage.

LATIN MASS IN VERMONT

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) - Vermont's Roman Catholic church has announced that it will start offering some Masses in Latin for interested worshippers.

Bishop Salvatore Matano says the decision was based on Pope Benedict's request that bishops around the world offer the Latin service when possible.

Read the story here.

PENANCE FINISHED FOR THE WEEK - OR MAYBE THE MONTH

Three guitars, a keyboard, a flute (or maybe it was a clarinet, I couldn't see it), and a tambourine. I knew I was in the wrong place when I walked in and they were makin their music. A couple of pieces started off with finger-picking that sounded like the opening to the TV show "Beverly Hillbillies". The mystery of faith and the amen were repeated in case we didn't catch it the first time through. (Wasn't the Novus Ordo supposed to do away with all the repitition? I guess just THAT OTHER repetition needed to vanish, because there is plenty of repitition still around.)

Then there was the social gospel homily--in spades, and maybe in aces and kings, and queens, and jacks, too, complete with hellfire and brimstone shouting and lots of arm gestures. Haven't heard one this blatant in a long time. Did you know that the reason the priest and the levite walked on by was that they may have been on their way to worship? No, I didn't know it either. Neither did I know that we are supposed to go to Mass but it's more important to help others in need.

Just in case I hadn't gotten the idea that this was the progressive Mass, lots of ad libbing was thrown in for effect, including a reference to God as mother and father. And this wasn't done in the homily. It just got tacked on to some of the prayers of the Mass, along with all the other added stuff.

This must be a regular feature of the 10 a.m. Mass at St. Bernards. It was the second time I've attended the 10. The first time was a special celebration I mistakenly went to. It was my husband's idea to attend it this morning. And it was the last time either of us will make that mistake.

The priest was the one who started the gay ministry in Akron. Apparently it is too limiting to his style to stick to the rubrics. The whole thing was quite a performance that I survived by asking God to "just get me through it." After all the ad libbing, I wasn't convinced the consecration had taken place, and in any case I was too angry by the time communion rolled around to even think of receiving. We left instead.

When the day comes that I walk away from it all, it won't be because I wanted to, it will be because I've been driven out.

American priests should all be given a video of Benedict's Christmas Eve mass that was on TV live in 2005 so they can take lessons!

LATIN MASS IN CLEVELAND

This is all I've seen so far on the reception of the Motu Proprio in Cleveland. It's not encouraging.